Juha Sjoeblom Profile

I have been interested in world heritage from year 2008 and I have visited sites since then whenever possible. I usually travel 3-5 times a year. My main areas of interest are Northern Africa, Middle East, Balkans, Caucasus and Central Asia.

I'm an independent traveller and when travelling, I want to use public transport as much as possible. Since the sites are not always easy to reach, I’m curious how other travellers have got to them.

I’ll write reviews when I supposedly have some fresh point of view or when the site has only very few reviews. I also tell my overall feelings about the site and how I have travelled to it.

Finland Last Update 29.07.21 179 WHS Visited 29 Reviews 176 WHS Rated 41 TWHS Visited

Visited Sites Juha Sjoeblom

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Recent Reviews Juha Sjoeblom

The Ringed Seal Archipelagos of Lake Saimaa (T)

Juha Sjoeblom Finland - 22-Jun-21

Site visited May 2021. Ringed seal archipelagos of Lake Saimaa were a nice experience. It was also something new to me in my home country. This natural site may not be for everyone, but those who want to see the rare seals, and those who love birdwatching, pristine lake nature and beautiful landscapes will be pleased. I spent two days exploring some of the elements of this tentative site.

When Finland announced a revised list of tentative sites in 2021, it presented one totally new site which seemed right away a logical move. Saimaa ringed seals – of course. It is hard to think any other object in Finland with so much positive impression and support from Finnish people.

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Stari Ras and Sopocani

Juha Sjoeblom Finland - 27-May-20

Site visited July 2016. Stari Ras and Sopoćani is generally least known and visited among the six Yugoslavian sites which were inscribed in 1979. Although the name makes you think that there are two sites the inscription consists of four separate sites around the town of Novi Pazar. This group of medieval monuments of the first capital of Serbia gives you an interesting insight to the history of the country.

I travelled to Novi Pazar by bus from Belgrad and visited the Studenica Monastery during the trip

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Djémila

Juha Sjoeblom Finland - 01-May-20

Site visited December 2013. The Arabic name of the ancient Roman city of Cuicul is Djémila which means ”beautiful”. The site really matches its newer name because it is probably the most beautiful and scenic of all the Roman sites in Algeria. I think it is also one of the top three Roman sites of Africa.

Cuicul was an ancient Roman colony and a military garrison founded in the 1st century. It is built on an altitude of 900 metres on a narrow triangular plateau

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The historical surroundings of Crimean Khans' capital in Bakhchysarai (T)

Juha Sjoeblom Finland - 24-Apr-20

I visited this site during my tour of Ukraine on July 2013. The former capital of Crimean Khanate with its diverse cultural sites and great sceneries made a good impression on me, and it is also a very nice place to visit. Bakhchysarai is one of those sites which deserve to be included to the World Heritage List, but the current situation is very difficult for it.

At the moment there are two sites of Bakhchysarai on the Ukrainian tentative list: the other one is just for the Khan’s Palace, and the other one is the historic monuments of Bakhchysarai Valley from the Khan’s Palace to the Chufut-Kale. I would support the latter because there are a rich array of cultural sights in and around the city of Bakhchysarai.

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Timgad

Juha Sjoeblom Finland - 10-Apr-20

Site visited December 2013. Timgad is the largest and arguably the best of the Roman archaeological sites of Algeria. I think it is also one of top three Roman sites of Africa and, I dare to say, probably among the best outside of Italy. Timgad is not known for its imposing buildings but for town planning and well preserved grid plan. In this review I focus mainly on the practical issues of visiting Timgad.

Algeria, especially the eastern part of the country, is one of the hotspots of Roman archaeological sites. Apart from the inscribed ones there are several sites worth mentioning: Tiddis, Madauros (Madaure), Hippo Regius (Hippone), Theveste, Thubursicum and Lambaesis. Many of these have been collected to a TWHS Sites, lieux et itineraires augustiniens du Maghreb central.

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Profile Data

Name: Juha Sjoeblom
Country: Finland
Most Impressive: Medina of Fez, Lalibela

Recently Visited WHS

Update 29.07.21: Paseo del Prado and Buen Retiro

Visited WHS

Rating Stats

Bukhara 5

Istanbul 5

Lalibela 5

Machu Picchu 5

Mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor 5

Meidan Emam, Esfahan 5

Petra 5

Samarkand 5

Silk Roads 5

Simien National Park 5

Acropolis 4.5

Baalbek 4.5

Grand Canal 4.5

Itchan Kala 4.5

Medina of Fez 4.5

Persepolis 4.5

St. Petersburg 4.5

Wieliczka and Bochnia Royal Salt Mines 4.5

Aachen Cathedral 4

Aksum 4

Amphitheater of El Jem 4

Aphrodisias 4

Auschwitz Birkenau 4

Byblos 4

Caral-Supe 4

Chavin 4

Cracow 4

Djémila 4

Dougga/Thugga 4

Ephesus 4

Fasil Ghebbi 4

Hierapolis-Pamukkale 4

Kotor 4

Kremlin and Red Square 4

Longmen Grottoes 4

M'Zab Valley 4

Masjed-e Jâme' 4

Mausoleum of Khoja Ahmed Yasawi 4

Medina of Marrakesh 4

Pergamon 4

Ping Yao 4

Plitvice Lakes 4

Split 4

Timgad 4

Trier 4

Tyre 4

Upper Middle Rhine Valley 4

West Norwegian Fjords 4

Wudang Mountains 4

Agrigento 3.5

Cuzco 3.5

Dengfeng 3.5

Falun Great Copper Mountain 3.5

Gamzigrad-Romuliana 3.5

Haghpat and Sanahin 3.5

Huascaran National Park 3.5

Island of Patmos 3.5

Kairouan 3.5

Ksar of Aït Ben Haddou 3.5

Kyiv 3.5

L'viv 3.5

Lima 3.5

Mont-Saint-Michel 3.5

Paris, Banks of the Seine 3.5

Persian Garden 3.5

Qadisha Valley 3.5

Qhapaq Ñan 3.5

Rabat 3.5

Sintra 3.5

Statue of Liberty 3.5

Trinity Sergius Lavra 3.5

Venetian Works of Defence 3.5

Vilnius 3.5

Visby 3.5

Volubilis 3.5

White Monuments of Vladimir and Suzdal 3.5

Altamira Cave 3

Amsterdam Canal Ring 3

Anjar 3

Archaeological Site of Aigai 3

Arles 3

Avignon 3

Bauhaus Sites 3

Belem 3

Berat and Gjirokastra 3

Bryggen 3

Burgos Cathedral 3

Butrint 3

Cathedral of St. James in Sibenik 3

Cologne Cathedral 3

Corfu 3

Delos 3

Drottningholm 3

Echmiatsin and Zvartnots 3

Euphrasian Basilica in Porec 3

Gobustan Rock Art 3

Kalwaria Zebrzydowska 3

Kew Gardens 3

Kronborg Castle 3

Maritime Greenwich 3

Medieval Monuments in Kosovo 3

Medina of Essaouira 3

Medina of Tunis 3

Meknes 3

Monastery of Geghard 3

Mostar 3

Mtskheta 3

Museumsinsel (Museum Island) 3

Novodevichy Convent 3

Ohrid Region 3

Old Rauma 3

Pasargadae 3

Petäjävesi Old Church 3

Quseir Amra 3

Roskilde Cathedral 3

Schönbrunn 3

Site of Carthage 3

Skogskyrkogarden 3

Stari Ras and Sopocani 3

Stevns Klint 3

Stećci 3

Studenica Monastery 3

Syracuse 3

Tallinn 3

Tauric Chersonese 3

Thessalonika 3

Trogir 3

Urnes Stave Church 3

Val di Noto 3

Verla Groundwood and Board Mill 3

Vienna 3

Vizcaya Bridge 3

Walled City of Baku 3

Westminster 3

Arab-Norman Palermo 2.5

Asturian Monuments 2.5

Atapuerca 2.5

Berlin Modernism Housing Estates 2.5

Birka and Hovgarden 2.5

Church of the Ascension, Kolomenskoye 2.5

Curonian Spit 2.5

Engelsberg Ironworks 2.5

Gammelstad 2.5

High Coast / Kvarken Archipelago 2.5

Jelling 2.5

Kasbah of Algiers 2.5

Luther Memorials 2.5

Medina of Sousse 2.5

Residence of Bukovinian & Dalmatian Metropolitans 2.5

Riga 2.5

Rjukan / Notodden 2.5

Shakhrisyabz 2.5

Sheki 2.5

Sulaiman-Too 2.5

Tipasa 2.5

Tower of London 2.5

Yin Xu 2.5

Castles of Augustusburg and Falkenlust 2

Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland 2

Fortress of Suomenlinna 2

Golestan Palace 2

Grand Place, Brussels 2

Kernavë 2

Laurisilva of Madeira 2

Mehmed Paša Sokolović Bridge 2

Paseo del Prado and Buen Retiro 2

Pythagoreion and Heraion of Samos 2

Sammallahdenmäki 2

Stari Grad Plain 2

Um er-Rasas 2

Yuso and Suso Monasteries 2

Zollverein 2

Garden Kingdom of Dessau-Wörlitz 1.5

Mir Castle 1.5

Tiya 1.5

Nesvizh 1

Primeval Beech Forests

Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France

Struve Geodetic Arc

Reviewed WHS

Visited TWHS

Reviewed TWHS

Top 50 Missing Sites

Baikonur Cosmodrome / Cape Canaveral
City of Herat
Ensemble du site naturel de la région du Chouf avec les monuments et les sites
Ephesus
Fortified City of Famagusta
Golden Gate Bridge
Historic University Towns of Oxford and Cambridge
Jebel Shams, Wadi Nakhur, and Wadi Ghul
Major Buildings of Frank Lloyd Wright
Minoan palaces of Crete
Panama Canal
Pharaonic Temples of Kom Ombo and Edfu
Railways of the Andes
Silk Roads
Svalbard
Tempelhof Airport, Berlin
Tobolsk
Transiberian Railway
Vatnajökull National Park
Vers une architecture: Major Buildings of Le Corbusier

World Heritage Site

for World Heritage Travellers

Juha Sjoeblom Profile

Visited Sites Juha Sjoeblom

Legend

Recent Reviews Juha Sjoeblom

The Ringed Seal Archipelagos of Lake Saimaa (T)

Stari Ras and Sopocani

Djémila

The historical surroundings of Crimean Khans' capital in Bakhchysarai (T)

Timgad

Profile Data

Recently Visited WHS

Visited WHS

Reviewed WHS

Visited TWHS

Reviewed TWHS

Top 50 Missing Sites

Top 200 WHS